


Lua

by looselips



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (bc steven and amethyst are siblings and you can fight me on that), (i have to add that bc i mention stevens neck), Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Insomnia, Light Angst, One Shot, Post-Steven Universe: The Movie, Sibling Bonding, ironically enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-11-24 04:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20901725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/looselips/pseuds/looselips
Summary: Amethyst comes out of the Temple for her nightly snack to find Steven still up. His reasoning isn't exactly what she expected.





	Lua

**Author's Note:**

> im terrible at summaries but i tried. also sorry if any of the characterization is off, this is my first time trying to write for su n also i have!! no idea how super close siblings interact!! bc im not close w either of mine

It was late, much too late for any regular person to be awake, even if they willed themselves to be. The moon was wrapping up her shift, all her stars almost collected and all the wispy night clouds making way for their fluffy replacements; which is why Amethyst was confused, almost concerned, as to why she saw light coming from the upstairs.

It was Amethyst’s normal routine for almost a decade now, coming out from the temple at some ungodly hour of the night to raid the fridge. She almost never woke Steven up in the process, she could count the number of times on one hand, but an even more rare occurrence was Steven still being _ awake _ in the first place when she did it. It’d only ever happened twice, technically, and that factor was enough to make Amethyst bet anything that he’d just fallen asleep playing games or watching videos. Still, as she stood in the kitchen with the fridge half open, eating last week’s pizza, she couldn’t help the suspicion that’d wormed its way into her. It was an almost eighty-twenty chance, but she just felt the strange need to _ check. _

Swallowing the bite she was chewing and silently shutting the fridge with practiced ease, Amethyst crept up the stairs to Steven’s bedroom. She reached it and stuck her head in,

_ “Yo, Ste-man, you awa--?” _ She started to whisper, but quickly stopped, her eyes landing on a person-shaped comforter lump. Steven was sitting up in bed, hunched over, with his blanket wrapped around him; the light Amethyst had seen was from his phone. Expression falling, she took a step into the room. “Dude,” she said, voice quiet but still loud enough for him to hear, “What’re you still doing up?”

Steven looked over at her with tired eyes, setting his phone down. “Oh, uh, hey,” he said, avoiding the question, “I didn’t hear you come out of your room.” Amethyst folded her arms over her chest. He wasn’t gonna get off the hook _that_ easily.

“You realize it’s like four in the morning, right?” Amethyst questioned.

Steven’s phone buzzed against his bed and he reached for it. “You realize you sound like _Pearl_ right now, right?” He retorted, before averting his attention back to the small screen. Amethyst rolled her eyes, knowing that was code for _“you’re mom-ing me too hard.”_

  
“Yeah, whatever,” she replied, “I just… Wanted to check on you, man, cause this really isn’t like you.” She uncrossed her arms, waiting for a response; surprisingly, she got nothing, only the faint sound of the digital keyboard on Steven’s phone.

“Y’know, you’re _probably_ gonna have a more meaningful conversation with your girlfriend if you’re not half asleep,” Amethyst joked. Steven blushed, pink cheeks accentuated by his face being the only thing lit up in the whole room. “I mean, I get puppy love, but--”

_"__It’s not because of her,_” Steven interrupted, sharp, voice low. Amethyst looked at him skeptically and he sighed, turning his gaze back towards her. “Yeah, it’s because of _this_,” he elaborated, gesturing towards the conversation pulled up on his phone, “But it’s not because of _her. _Not directly.”

  
Amethyst walked over to his bed and hopped up next to him, sitting cross-legged. “_So,_ what is it because of?” She asked, gently.

Steven put his phone down in front of him and sat up straight, rubbing his eyes, before slumping back down; they stung. He wondered if, maybe, he had just been a _ little _ more careful this whole thing could’ve been avoided -- but, apparently, fate had other plans, and it was too late to go back now. He knew Amethyst, and she would be too stubborn to just let this go.

He took a deep breath. “I… I think I had a panic attack?” Steven said, voice uncertain and fragile, staring out into the dark, blank expanse of his room. Amethyst looked up at him with sympathetic eyes. “B-but I don’t know,” he continued, “I’ve only ever had one of those as a fusion, not as a…_ Me, _and those are _so_ different.”

Amethyst placed a hand on his and he looked over at her. “Steven,” she began, soft, “Why didn’t you come get one of us?”

Steven turned his gaze back towards his room, then the floor. He honestly had no real answer for that. It didn’t make any logical sense for him to have gone straight to Connie, considering he wasn’t even entirely sure if she’d get his texts, he’d just..

“I… Don’t know,” Steven admitted, bluntly, before looking back up. There was a pause. Steven’s chest felt tight again, an almost thorn-like feeling working its way out from his ribs and to his throat, the blunt points sticking in and squeezing. Steven brought a hand up to his neck, fingers rubbing subconsciously at the spot where his shoulder connected; he swallowed, rough.

“I guess I just.. Didn’t wanna be a burden,” Steven said. He sounded so _small,_ so lost in his own head. Amethyst sighed, now glad she didn’t write this off as him just being a dumb teen and falling asleep with something still on.

Amethyst reached around Steven’s back and hugged him the best she could, resting her head on his side. “Steven, we’re _family,”_ she began, tone gentle, “You’re never gonna be a burden on us.”

Steven looked down at her, hand still on his throat.

“Plus, you’re like, the one person who has all access permission to annoy the _hell_ out of us,” Amethyst joked, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

Steven cracked a small smile, puffing a short exhale out his nose. “I’m glad to have that right, I guess,” he said. Steven could feel those tight vines and thorns starting to fade away, but he still felt heavy, almost drained.

Amethyst looked over at him. “I mean it though, dude,” she replied, “You’re never bothering us, or annoying us, or any of that dumb stuff, by bringing things like this up. We love you,” she finished.

Steven felt a lump in his throat, the good kind now, though -- he didn’t realize how bad he needed to hear that. Steven brought his hand down and wrapped an arm around Amethyst, leaning against her and squeezing her tight.

_“Thanks, Amethyst.”_

**Author's Note:**

> i like to think that after this connie sent him like 400 texts bc he just randomly stopped typing for like 20 minutes


End file.
